40-year-old classroom block collapses, classes held under trees

A dilapidated 40-year-old classroom block of the PSK M/A Primary school built with mud collapsed Sunday in the Asante Mampong municipality.

The structure collapsed on Sunday forcing school authorities to hold classes under trees.

The warning bells started sounding five years ago when one child narrowly escaped death when part of the structure which houses primary one to six fell off while classes were in session.

“The wall had become loose and when I leant against it, it broke and part of it fell on me. I was lucky people were around and they took me to the house. I felt pain all over,” the lucky pupil told Luv News’ Erastus Asare Donkor.

Luv News recently reported on the disaster waiting to happen last month as Erastus Asare Donkor highlighted the plight of the children who sat in the dilapidated mud bricks structure with visible cracks all over it.

After a stormy night on Sunday, the structure caved in. Some of the students said they were saved by God.

“When we came to school on Monday and saw the structure down, we thanked God because we could have been in class when it collapsed,” one of the students said.

On a recent visit to the school, authorities told Luv News they have no option but to close down the school when they suspect strong winds are beckoning.

The Assistant headteacher of the school, Elvis Atakorah, told the reporter that they have four classes under trees – classes three, four, five and six.

They are appealing to government, civil society organisations, philanthropist and other well-meaning Ghanaians to come to their aid.

Last month, some six kindergarten school children – ages four and five – of the Breman Jamera Methodist School in the Odoben Brakwa District in the Central region, lost their lives when the classroom block collapsed on them.

The about 70 pupils were preparing to begin lessons when the tragic incident occurred.

A teacher in the school said they had noticed cracks in the wall and informed authorities, but nothing was done about it until the unfortunate incident occurred.